Adam had regained a little of his composure.
He came out of the terminal building having settled on the Peninsula Hotel for a couple of nights until he decided what he would do for more long-term accommodation needs, and the next thing he knew he was sitting in the back of a taxi with what he could only describe as a beautiful Chinese woman. He particularly liked her skin; it was darker than normal and it reminded him of Lucinda’s. This mystery woman had probably been brought up in one of the shantytowns where skin colour was not a priority: the women from the shantytowns did not do everything they could to keep their skins as pale as possible because survival was just a little more important.
‘Adam,’ Leila repeated, although she pronounced it Ay-Dam. ‘So let me ask my question again. Is this your first visit to Hong Kong?’
Lei Lay Sung was a false name, but by courtesy of The 7th Dragon Triad, it was the one on the driving licence and ID Card she carried in her shoulder bag. She knew nothing about Adam Harrison. Her instructions from Number Sixty-Six were simple: she was to find out why Adam Harrison was in Hong Kong, how long he was staying, and to do whatever was necessary to discover other information that may be of interest to the Master.
What Leila also didn’t know was that the Master knew nothing of this latest assignment. On this occasion she was working purely for Number Sixty-Six.
Adam watched the water on either side of the causeway between Lantau Island and what he knew was Tung Wan Island. He had never seen the new airport let alone the motorway which had been built between it and Kowloon. On his way back to school over twenty years earlier, he’d flown from Kai Tak. He was amazed at what he saw and just a little disappointed. He thought of the couple on the aircraft and what they would make of the many more changes they would see.
‘No, Leila, this is not my first visit,’ he said almost absentmindedly. ‘I was born here.’
‘You was born in Hong Kong?’ Leila asked, her surprise genuine. ‘I know,’ she added enthusiastically, ‘your father was in the army.’
‘No, my father was a businessman living in Hong Kong.’ Adam caught the driver’s eyes in the rear-view mirror and smiled. The driver winked and raised his eyebrows. No, not on my first night back in Hong Kong, Adam thought, not on my first night and most likely not at all.
‘So the business is now yours?’ Leila asked, moving ever so slightly so that her arm was touching his. She could smell the slight male mustiness that comes from not washing straight after a long haul flight. She did not find it unappealing. Most European gweilos had a special smell anyway: she’d been told it was from drinking milk and eating so many milk products.
This one was going to be easy. It was probably the business the Master was interested in.
He was free with his answers already and he did not know who she was. She would sleep with him anyway just for the fun of it; maybe he would be good. He looked as though he ought to be good and considerate. He had kind eyes and his hands were kind also. You can tell a lot from a man’s hands, she thought. Some of her assignments were kind to her and wanted to please her as much as they expected her to please them. Most, though, were selfish. Then there were the few who wanted her to do things and do things to her that she found revolting. With them she hoped she would be told by Number Sixty-Six they were to be eliminated but no such luck. The two she had killed had both been good to her and she was sorry to see them die, especially the one she had helped over the balcony rail.
‘No, my father died many years ago and the business was sold.’
‘It didn’t go to your mother?’
‘My mother died at the same time as my father. She and my father were killed in a plane crash.’ Why am I telling her all this? Adam thought. She’s a stranger sharing a taxi to the hotel and I’m talking to her as though she’s a long-lost friend.
Lucinda flashed into his mind, followed swiftly by Gabrielle’s smiling face.
She had been different.
Gabrielle and Doris were the only two people in the world who knew he’d been on the point of suicide and he trusted them both to keep the facts to themselves. And it hit him suddenly that they were both responsible for him being here now.
‘Oh, I’m sorry,’ Leila said. ‘That must have been awful.’
‘I was only five, so the full impact wasn’t really there.’
‘Five? You was only five? That’s awful too. What happened to you?’ Leila put her hand on Adam’s thigh as if to emphasise the compassion she felt.
‘I survived,’ he told her, taking hold of her wrist and lifting her hand off his thigh.
They had left the causeway and were now heading south and Adam saw signs for the Cheung Tsing tunnel. He did not recognise where he was.
‘Are you staying at the Peninsula?’ he asked.
Leila had no luggage so he assumed she’d been at the airport seeing somebody off. Her clothes were simple but not cheap; her shoulder bag was Gucci and her sandals appeared to be handmade. Her long, jet-black hair was shiny and beautifully shaped, the little make-up she wore expertly applied, her finger and toenails manicured and her perfume - he thought he recognised it - was expensive. Her skin was darker than most Hong-Kong Chinese, but smooth and healthy, and her slim figure well proportioned. Her English was very good except for the odd and insignificant grammatical error, and she oozed both sex appeal and charm. If she wasn’t a guest at the Peninsula then she could be a much-appreciated employee.
‘No,’ Leila told him. ‘My boss flew to Tokyo this morning with a client and that’s why I was at the airport. His client was staying at the Peninsula and he thinks he left an expensive gold cigarette lighter in his room. He asked me to go and check before going to work.’
‘Where do you work?’
‘I’m the PA to the Managing Director of Exotic Holidays. Its main office is at the bottom of Nathan Road, very close to the Peninsula.’ Leila laughed. ‘So if you want a holiday while you’re on holiday you know where to come.’
He laughed. ‘I certainly do.’
The taxi left the West Kowloon Highway and after a few unrecognisable twists and turns Adam realised they were in Jordan Road and then Nathan Road. A feeling of security came with recognition.
Minutes later the taxi pulled up outside the Peninsula Hotel. As the driver got out both back doors were opened by smiling hotel employees. Adam watched his two suitcases being loaded onto a trolley. The meter in the taxi said one hundred and fifty Hong Kong dollars, so he gave the driver two hundred and told him to keep the change.
‘Sank you, sir,’ the driver said, ‘velly genelus.’
‘My pleasure,’ Adam told him.
‘She give pleasure also but you pay no more dan two thousand,’ the driver said solicitously and to one side.
‘I think you may have misunderstood -’
‘Not me, sir. You, sir, you misunnerstood. You picked up. It an old trick, share taxi, share bed, you pay … but not more dan two thousand.’
‘All right, not more than two thousand,’ Adam repeated, smiling as he walked away from the taxi.
Leila was waiting for him just in front of the entrance. ‘What was that about?’
‘Oh, nothing really. He wanted to know whether I wanted some company tonight.’ It was out before Adam realised he’d said it.
‘And do you?’ Leila asked before going through the doors into the hotel.
Chapter Sixteen
Opened in 1928, the Peninsula Hong Kong is one of the world's legendary grand hotels and one of the three best luxury hotels in Hong Kong. Created nearly eighty years ago in the glamorous 1920s, the renowned "Grande Dame of the Far East" continues to set hotel standards worldwide, offering a blend of the best of Eastern and Western hospitality in an atmosphere of unmatched classical grandeur and timeless elegance.
Adam caught up with Leila at the reception desk, if its opulence allowed it to be called that. She had attracted the attention of one of the under-managers and had started talking to him before Adam coul
d speak.
‘Yes, sir?’ another under-manager enquired to Adam’s right.
‘Er, yes. I’m afraid I don’t have a reservation but I wondered whether you had a room available.’
‘Without a reservation I’m afraid that’s unlikely, sir.’ The under-manager, a Chinese man in his mid-twenties gave Adam the once over before consulting the computer in front of him. ‘For how long would it be, sir?’
‘Two, maybe three nights.’ His mind shot back to when he had last asked for a room for two or three nights. He smiled when he wondered if the under-manager was going to suggest it was a little late for a room as it was after eight o’clock.
‘I only have a Grand Deluxe Harbour View, sir, a late cancellation but as its name suggests it’s at the front of the hotel overlooking the harbour.’
‘Yes, that’ll be fine.’ Adam had no idea how much such a room was going to cost him but for just a couple of nights he really couldn’t care less.
The under-manager put a pad in front of Adam. ‘That will be four thousand five hundred dollars per night, sir. Would you mind filling in one of these. The room number is four-two-one and would you please ensure you put down your method of payment, sir?’
‘Certainly.’ Adam picked up a pen and after starting to fill out the registration form he became aware that Leila was standing by his side. He looked at her and she smiled.
‘They’re checking the client’s room now but so far nothing’s been handed in.’
‘I see.’ Adam turned back to the form.
‘I think we may have had a misunderstanding just now. Would it be possible for us to have a coffee together before I go to work?’
‘Yes, I suppose so, but -’
‘Can Mr Harrison’s cases be taken to his room, please?’ Leila asked the under-manager.
‘Yes, of course, madam.’ The under-manager clicked his fingers and a bellboy appeared. ‘Those two cases over there to Room four-two-one,’ he ordered in Cantonese and for Adam it was as though he was a young teenager again. He’d had no reason to speak the language for so many years but in just those few words it all came back to him. He shook his head and smiled as more memories and perhaps a little more security, flooded back.
‘Shall we go to the restaurant?’ Leila asked by his side.
‘Yes, of course. Lead the way.’
The under-manager watched Adam and Leila walk towards the pool terrace. He was sure he had seen the woman somewhere, but where? He was equally sure he had watched that bottom wiggle its way across the lobby on more than one occasion. From her accent she was a local so it was unlikely she had stayed at the Peninsula, unless …
The under-manager nodded.
Of course, about three weeks ago! She was with that very brash American who complained about the poor selection of bourbon in the mini-bar. A lot of the men took girls back to their rooms and hotel staff were told to turn a blind eye, but the under-manager remembered Leila because she was particularly attractive. Her skin was too dark but that figure made up for everything. The under-manager turned towards his next customer with a genuine smile on his face.
‘I’m sorry Adam, but I think -’ Leila started to say once they were seated but Adam cut her off.
‘Leila, I shouldn’t have repeated what the taxi driver said, I’m sorry.’
‘But I did ask whether you wanted some company this evening.’ Leila picked up her coffee cup and gave him a penetrating look. Adam was feeling absolutely shattered so he could have done without Leila’s intervention. All he wanted was to go to his room, have a shower and collapse on the bed for as long as he needed. He didn’t want any commitments and certainly not this early in what could be a prolonged stay in Hong Kong.
He had three months.
Whatever he had to do might only take three weeks so if that were the case then in less than a month he would be on a flight back to the UK. He would enjoy the luxury of the Peninsula for a few days and find somewhere a good deal cheaper.
‘Yes, you did, and would you consider me very rude if I were to say that no, I don’t?’
‘I think this is where the misunderstanding might be,’ Leila told him. ‘Our meeting at the airport was by chance. I asked a lot of questions in the taxi. I’m that sort of person, I do ask questions and you were polite - patient and polite.’
She smiled; her teeth were small, even and very white, and once again Adam could not believe how a smile could enhance an already beautiful face.
‘I know you have only just arrived in my city, a city that used to be your city, but it is different now. The buildings are still here, well there are some new ones like the airport, but generally there has been little change. Nor has there been that much change with the people. Under British rule they did one thing and now under Chinese rule they sometimes do another. I say sometimes, because it’s only after the British left that so many Hong Kong Chinese began to appreciate and understand what they had until that day in 1997. It was easy to criticise. Just imagine a similar situation in Europe. Let us say that the Chinese had colonised the Isle of Man for one hundred years because of a freak trading agreement, and then the island is handed back to the mainland. It’s inconceivable, Adam, isn’t it? Look at Hong Kong, look at Macao, look at Gibraltar, look at the Malvinas, sorry the Falkland Islands, and even look at what the English call the Channel Islands, they are all freaks of history. And also look at most of Asia, the Middle East as you call it, and Africa. I won’t mention South and North America.’ Leila put her cup in the saucer. ‘What gave you Europeans the right to think you should rule the world? There are many proud and successful nations out there that, if they had been left alone, had every right to develop at their own pace. But, no, along came the English, the Dutch, the French, the Germans, the Italians, the Portuguese and the Spanish, all of whom thought they knew better. Well in the case of the Hong Kong Chinese, the British did know better and it isn’t until now that so many of them really appreciate what they had. They had freedom. They had the freedom to act, the freedom of speech and the freedom to demonstrate if they didn’t agree with something. They had democracy, an ideology that is alien to our new masters. To the outside world Hong Kong has changed very little from when we were under British rule. The people look the same, the buildings are the same, but underneath there is an undertow that is eating away at the very heart of what four if not five generations of Hong Kong Chinese have enjoyed. It is that side of Hong Kong I would like to volunteer to show you, it is that side of Hong Kong I think you have come back to see.’ Leila smiled again, her fingers resting lightly on the back of Adam’s hand. ‘But I will only show you it if you buy me dinner this evening.’
Adam’s cup had stayed somewhere between the saucer and his mouth throughout Leila’s lecture. He was astounded at the depth of her knowledge, her surprisingly good English and her astute observations. He had allowed her to carry on, though there were flaws in her argument. But it was mid-morning, they were sitting having coffee in The Peninsula and they were strangers.
‘Wow! Where did that come from?’ he asked, genuinely intrigued.
‘The heart,’ Leila replied.
‘If I agree to have dinner with you this evening is there more where that came from?’
‘Only if you want there to be.’
‘If I told you I wanted to find the Hong Kong I knew as a youngster, not the new Hong Kong of now, would you be offended?’
‘I would be happy to show you both or either.’
‘Then we have a date - dinner this evening. When do you want to meet and where do you want to eat?’
‘I think I will let you pay but you are my guest in every other sense. I’ll meet you in the lobby here at eight this evening and I will take you somewhere you will never have been to before. It will be an experience.’
‘Is that a challenge?’
‘If you want it to be.’
‘Fifty Hong Kong dollars?’
‘You have a bet, Adam Harrison. A free meal and fifty doll
ars. It promises to be a good evening.’
* * *
Later in his room and after a long, hot shower, Adam lay on the bed, from which he could see the tops of the buildings over on Hong Kong Island. He thought about what had happened, from the taxi incident at the airport until now. His trip to Hong Kong was very personal; it was for him and nobody else and yet he had allowed this woman, albeit a very attractive, intelligent and highly desirable woman, to take over the few hours he had so far spent on what was supposed to be a private visit to his past.
As his eyes began to close he smiled as he realised she had even stopped saying you was.
He did not think it strange.
* * *
Gabrielle walked into Ashbourne police station and the duty constable did a double take. The station happened to be in Compton Street almost opposite Jeremy Jacob’s office, so she hoped he had not been looking out of his window.
The constable’s eyes were drawn to the blonde hair and the very attractive smiling face, down the long slender neck, over the dog collar to the ... the dog collar?
PC Phillip Walters’ mouth fell open.
He had never seen a female vicar before. Well, that was not strictly true; he had seen pictures in the papers. There was that one, who was also very pretty, who led the campaign about cleft palates and abortions and things. He couldn’t remember what her name was, but she was very, very pretty. The female vicar who was walking towards him was just as pretty.
Below the dog collar was a large silver crucifix on a chain and it rested between her breasts against the greyness of her sweater. Do female vicars have breasts? They must do, thought PC Phillip Walters. They’re female aren’t they? His next thought suggested he was not going to be able to handle this and he was on the point of picking up the internal phone when the female vicar spoke.
‘Good morning. My name is Gabrielle Brooks and I would like to speak to the duty CID Inspector, please.’
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